


The Arc of Ascension, Saga 12: Russia, and the Omnium

by bzarcher, solarbird



Series: Of Gods and Monsters [69]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Assassination Plot(s), Background Femslash, Background Relationships, Betrayal, Canon Lesbian Character, Canon Lesbian Relationship, Concept Art Mercy - Freeform, Consequences, F/F, Fear, Multi, Oasis, Other, Plot, Polyamorous Character, Polyamory, Post-Talon, Post-Talon Widowmaker | Amélie Lacroix, Rage, Shock, Shock & Awe, Siberian Omnium, Talon Angela "Mercy" Ziegler, Talon Emily (Overwatch), Talon Fareeha "Pharah" Amari, Talon Hana "D.Va" Song, Talon Lena "Tracer" Oxton, Trans Sombra (Overwatch)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-03
Updated: 2018-12-03
Packaged: 2019-09-06 02:00:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16822873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bzarcher/pseuds/bzarcher, https://archiveofourown.org/users/solarbird/pseuds/solarbird
Summary: The new gods have risen, ready to grapple with a world of heroes. Moira O'Deorain herself has been reborn, now made one of the creations her previous self meant to rule, and she works with her wife - the goddess Mercy - and their ensemble of new deities to remake the world, toimproveit... for everyone.The long, warm, peaceful summer has - as was inevitable - come to an end.But no one, really, could have imagined how turbulent autumn might be.Of Gods and Monsters: The Arc of Ascensionis a continuance ofOf Gods and Monsters: The Arc of CreationandThe Armourer and the Living Weapon. It will be told in a series of eddas, sagas, interludes, fragments, texts, and cantos, all of which serve their individual purposes. To follow the story as it appears,please subscribe to the series.





	The Arc of Ascension, Saga 12: Russia, and the Omnium

> Mílitsa, the Tsáritsa, paced at the foot of the walls and gate of the white city Krúshevats, with her daughters, Vúkosava and Mara, as Vládeta, the Voývoda, charged up the approach, his brown stallion covered in frothy sweat, exhausted from a long, hard drive. 
> 
> "Oh, Vládeta - god be with you, what has happened?" she said, running towards the exhausted rider. "Have you come from Kósovo? Do you have word of my husband?" 
> 
> "God be with us both, Tsáritsa. I do come from Kósovo. I did not see his majesty, but... I saw his charger, riderless, being driven by the Turks, up and down the plains, for sport. I fear he has fallen." 
> 
> She shook her head, no, no, no, refusing to believe it, even as tears fell from her eyes. "I can't believe it. I can't. Are you sure? Did you see my father, Yug Bogdan, or my nine brothers - any of them?" 
> 
> "Still fighting, my imperial majesty - I saw them, exhausted, covered in the blood of the enemy, surrounded - but fighting, still, nonetheless." 
> 
> "And Milosh? And Bránkovich, my daughters' husbands?" 
> 
> "Milosh, too, valiantly, fighting to the last, even as the hordes pressed in upon him. But Vuk Bránkovich... I did not see him, and I hope to God I never do. I pray for his death. He betrayed us, my lady - he betrayed us all." 

“No,” Katya Volskaya said flatly, her eyes like chips of ice. “Absolutely not.” 

The Goddess of Life frowned back at her from the screen mounted in her office. “I fail to see why this is such an issue. We are offering additional aid at no cost to you.” 

Katya shook her head. “This is a Russian matter, on Russian soil. You have already presumed to tell us how to handle our own problems -”

“We have _offered assistance_ ,” Angela interrupted, “because we believe we can help you without putting more lives - _Russian_ lives, as you have pointed out - at risk.” 

Volskaya did not look pleased at being challenged. “We have already accepted far too much of your ‘help’ with your Weapons, and the plans to send Sombra in with Sergeant Major Zaryanova. Your offer is noted, but we have our _own_ doctors. There is no need for you to accompany them.” 

When Angela had begun this conversation, she’d made herself count backwards from ten before replying to any of Volskaya’s more provocative statements. 

She made herself count down from one hundred before finally answering this one.

“With all due respect,” she countered, “you do not have the knowledge or capability to provide specialized care for us - or for the Sergeant Major, now that she has been Changed. Your doctors and medics are competent, of that I have no doubt, but it will be far simpler for me to accompany the Weapons into the field and station myself at one of the forward hospital units than to attempt to train your personnel on highly classified, bleeding edge material.”

She’d expected Volskaya to balk again, but instead the Oligarch seemed to consider her words. “If you were to serve at a field hospital - you would assist our doctors? Aid our troops, and not just your own?”

“Of course,” Angela assured her with a nod. “I _am_ a doctor, Madam President. I would consider it my duty to assist anyone in need.” 

Katya inclined her head. “I will discuss the matter with the general staff. Perhaps we could speak again in... three hours?” 

Angela smiled politely. “That would be quite acceptable, thank you.” 

“Very well. Good afternoon, doctor.” 

“Good afternoon, Madam President.”

\-----

Katya waited for the screen to go dark and confirmed the connection had been completely closed before she turned to where Kamaria Tendaji had been observing the conversation.

“What do you think of the doctor’s offer?” 

Kamari gave a little hum as she stood, walking in a little circle as she spoke. “I think she is telling you the truth about her willingness to help, and that it would almost certainly be a major undertaking to educate the army medics about what her friends would need, should something happen."

She stopped, looking at the floor, before looking back up, clearly considering her words. "She was one of the best doctors in the world _before_ Moira began to tinker with her. She... _could_... save a lot of lives, if she so chose.”

Katya raised an eyebrow at the several qualifiers both stated and implied. “I think you have more to say than that, Kamaria.” 

“Of course I do.” Kamaria gave a tight little smile, appreciating the acknowledgement. "I think you're making a mistake - a very bad one - by trying to hold them, even temporarily."

"You've said _that_ before. We cannot risk letting the AI be taken intact. No nation could. And their intelligence has been... frighteningly good, at times. If they anticipate our intent to strike, they'll interfere to try to stop us, and we _must_ prevent that from happening."

"I know. But it is still my opinion that this is a mistake." She shook her head. "From what I have seen, Angela Ziegler in particular is not a woman to underestimate. Of all the ‘Gods’, she took to it faster and more thoroughly - more genuinely - than any of them. She will _not_ be trifled with.”

Katya leaned back in her chair. “I was under the impression she was a committed pacifist.” 

“A pacifist, yes. An idiot, no.” Kamaria stopped her pacing to face her square on. “She still carried a gun in the field when she was part of Overwatch, and she kept that gun when she served with the MSF. She may not _like_ combat, but if she feels that she or her friends are in danger, she could become a real threat.”

“The field hospital will be quite some way from the front. Isolating her from the others could make her easier to subdue,” Katya noted. “If necessary.”

“A cornered animal can still bite,” Kamaria countered coolly. 

Katya’s smile turned rather unpleasant. “All the more reason to keep it caged.” She reached for the intercom on her desk, thumbing the button that would put her in touch with the working group at Central District Army Command. 

“This is Volskaya. I want to see plans and projections for containment of another ‘guest’ from Oasis at the 41st Guards field hospital.” She met Kamaria’s eyes, and waited for a reluctant nod. “Our consultant will send you a dossier shortly.”

“Yes, Madam President!” 

Katya nodded briskly, even if it wouldn’t be seen outside of her office. “Thank you. I want the first draft in... two hours.” 

“Understood!”

Kamaria had already headed for the office’s door, unhappy, but no longer arguing. “I’ll send them everything I have, but..."

"Kami..."

The Numbani woman stopped, and looked back at her... friend. Her once-lover. Her....

"... _I know_."

Katya walked around her desk, across the office, and closed the door, as Karmaria blinked, confused.

"What?"

The oligarch leaned against the door, her back to it, and spoke, softly, letting a little of her fear into her voice. " _I know_. Do you think I haven't heard you? I have. I believe you. I've read Morrison's reports, I've heard him talk - I believe him, too."

"Then..." Kamaria leaned close. "Why are you risking so much? If it doesn't work, if all you do is enrage them, the cost would be..."

"Because of that! Because of that _exactly_. Don't you understand?"

She looked into her oldest friend's eyes.

"I'm doing this _because_ the 'gods' are as dangerous as the omnium. We can handle one, I think. I hope. Together - I cannot even imagine what they would be. And if..." she said, and stopped for a moment, thinking, looking, for a moment, across her office, out the window, collecting her thoughts. "If... I have asked Aleksandra Zaryanova to sacrifice herself to save Russia from the AI..."

She looked back over at the woman she once loved.

"Then... if I must sacrifice _myself_ to save Russia from _them_ , then..."

She shuddered, and looked down, away, towards nothing.

"...so be it."

Kamaria stood, stunned, for the moment, at Katya's... foolish, insane patriotism. She knew, of course. It'd been what tore them apart - patriotism was stupid. It was nonsense. It was...

"...I will do everything in my power to keep that from happening. I will _not_ let you... I..."

She shook her head. _No. Not... here. Not.... now._

"I'll..." She shook her head again, fighting off tears, and braced herself, as she knew she always could. "The army have everything I have - everything I know - within ten minutes."

"Thank you," Katya whispered, and Kamaria took her hand, and kissed it, once, and this time, the oligarch did not tense, did not flinch, but instead, smiled, softly, and brushed her hand along Kamaria's check - just a touch...

...but, perhaps, also, just an achingly little bit more.

\-----

"Not real fond of being stationed so far apart," Tracer said, looking over the Russians' order of battle. "Rather go in as a unit, like we usually do."

"Like we _should_ ," Oilliphéist agreed. It wasn't just the distance bothering her; it was the structure.

"I agree," Widowmaker added, in turn. "They are keeping us separated - not just directly apart from each other, which could be sensible, depending upon the scenario, but across entirely different units which are not directly coordinated. It reduces the effect of our actions." She hummed, contemplating the maps. "They do not trust us."

"No," Zarya agreed. "They do not." _I should not, either_ , she added, but only to herself. But she did, and she reminded herself, yet again, that did not put them on the same side.

Even if it would be so, so easy, she knew, to change her mind about that.

"Well, I don't trust _them_ ," the younger blue assassin quipped. "So fair's fair as far as it goes, but we've got a job to do. I'm not sure we're going to make the big enough bang we need, going in like this."

"So do we call 'em on it?" the teleporter asked, contemplating. "Or do we just pretend we didn't notice, and surprise 'em?"

"Do not surprise them," Zarya said, firmly. "We are Russian, and we do not like military surprises." She chortled, a little. "At least, not receiving them."

Lena giggled, nodding. "Fair cop. We should bring it up, though. If we're supposed to distract, we need to _distract_. And in the open field like this, that means Em and I go in together."

"With Danielle in the background," Oilliphéist amended. "Her positioning isn't too bad in this order - I think it'd make a good anchor for a proper sweep _here_ ," she pointed at a location on the map, "with a pincer manoeuvre _here_ , when they react to us. That would let Russian Army forces advance ... pretty much through the end of a single-day supply-line extension in, oh, what d'ya think, luv?"

"Forty minutes," Widowmaker said. "Thirty five, if they are prompt and conditions are fair."

The attack pattern looked quite a bit like one Zarya had seen as an initial proposal, before Volskaya had reminded everyone of the importance of keeping the Weapons isolated. General Malyshev would approve, though.

"I will talk to Command," she said, after a moment. "I am quite certain they have their reasons for the attack plan they have chosen, however. Perhaps intelligence they have not chosen to share."

Danielle scowled, but Lena just nodded. "Makes sense. Army's like that."

"Not bein' like that is what got me thrown _out_ of the Forces," Emily snickered, "eventually."

Lena grinned and fuzzled Emily's hair. "I love you, you absolute maniac, y'know that?"

"'Course I do," she said, grinning back, before glancing again to Zarya. "Let me draw this out properly, before you send it. I've got some ideas."

"Absolutely," the Russian replied. "It is a good plan, even in the rough."

Emily smiled with a little bobble of her head, pleased with the praise, as she began setting out a detailed write up of the proposal, and Zayra watched, taciturn, but internally approving.

_It is a better plan than th... than we have laid out_ , the sergeant-major thought. _At least, if the job to be done..._ She frowned. _...is actually to be done as agreed._

She frowned more, as she considered the full ramifications of the actual, full plan. Oasis could not be permitted to have an omnium AI. The gods did not get to have a God Programme, and she appreciated that. No one should.

And she knew they would be angry that their prize would be destroyed. _But they are rational people_ , she thought, smiling a little despite herself as the Weapons batted about details of terrain. _Hana destroyed the previous AI herself, and Sombra was merely sad. They themselves know there is a risk that it will not survive their operation, and are prepared for that failure. They've said as much, to High Command._

_So why is my army so intent upon keeping them so far apart?_ she thought, going over the details in her head again. _There is no reason, unless... I am also being kept at least partly in the dark._

That would also be very military of them, she knew.

_I will see how they respond to this counter-proposal_ , she decided. _And then, I will have a better idea what to think._

\-----

Zarya held her arms across her chest as she plummeted down through the atmosphere, the sound of the air roaring past her, her velocity inverting repeatedly as the series of teleportations reversed the arrow of her velocity, accelerating downwards, the suddenly falling up, slowing, reversing, down towards the omnium dome with Sombra beside her.

_This is... madness_ , she thought, and at the very same time, _this is **fun**_ , she also thought, the two impulses in her brain not entirely contradictory, and not entirely opposing each other, either. How she wasn't nauseated didn't even cross her mind - it hadn't been a problem once during training, so why should it be one now?

She did keep her eyes closed, though. Mostly. There was very little to see, with the light waves being bent around her, and around her companion. So there was no cause to ask for trouble, particularly not with an earbud - "Twenty seconds" - keeping her up to date on progress.

"Fifteen seconds to dome," she heard in that earbud. "Fourteen. Thirteen."

She thought, again, about the timing of the landing. About the estimated time to realisation for the dome's AI to know they were there. Whether Sombra had been able to convince it not to use its local defences, and in what ways. Ideally, there would be nothing at all to defend against... at least, not until Oasis initiated translocation.

"Ten. Nine. Turret array down. Seven. Six. Five. Turrets active. Three." She felt the turrets - a new design, from Vaswani's hardlight labs, harmless to her and her teammate, but slowing them nonetheless - "One."

_We're down?_ she thought, surprised at the softness of the landing, but she was, and they were, and the cloaked turret cluster had not, apparently, tipped off the omnium's AI. At least, not yet. It didn't even notice them until they had planted the fifth beacon, at which point, it noticed them _very much_ , and the game was on.

"Are you sure you want to save this thing?" Zarya shouted over the sound of explosions. "I'm fairly certain it does not want your help!" she continued, throwing another shield bubble over herself and positioning herself between most of the external fire and its target as the bubble over Sombra failed, leaving the hacker's personal shields to take over.

Sombra punched another translocator beacon onto the dome's surface, having validated the position against the scan she'd just made. "Yes!"

"Why?!"

"Because no one should be a slave, doy!" she said. "C'mon, next station! Four more!"

The two women ran along the edge of the dome, special shoes helping keep them from sliding down the rough sides, as fire from the omium's defence systems followed their path.

"That can't be the only reason," Zarya insisted, as they reached the next position, and she threw down another shield bubble, and started slicing apart incoming fire - fire being slowed by the turret array, which the AI apparently hadn't yet figured out - with her plasma gun. "You didn't save the last one. Why this one?"

Sombra watched the scanner sweep the local area inside the dome, slowly building a map of the local interior structure. _C'mon, c'mon..._ she thought, as the image formed. _We're low. But that's okay._ She pulled another beacon, exposed the adhesive, and slapped it into place. "I wanted to! But Hana went kind of nuts on me. I'm almost surprised you haven't started slicing into the dome yourself. Next station!"

_I am too_ , the Russian thought, as Lena's voice appeared on comms.

"How's it goin' out there, Zee?"

"It is very exciting," she replied, running. "Try to make to make it more exciting where you are, yes?"

"Believe me, luv, we have its attention."

"Not enough,” Zarya replied curtly. “Get more."

"Right-O!"

"You're right, though," Sombra said, as she started another scan. _Three_ , she thought. _C'mon, scanner... almost there... damn._ "We're too high! Move down, three metres!"

The two women ran, dodging fire that Zarya couldn't destroy, shields flickering into and out of existence like matter-antimatter pairs in quantum foam.

Sombra watched the scanner re-run at the new position. "It's... it's because it was abandoned, too. Just like we were."

"What _we_ , _prizrak?_ "

"Me. My family. My, my whole... everybody. A bunch of workers and small shopkeepers and just, you know, people. People who actually _made_ things, like this omnium did. During the war, they just abandoned us to the omnics. Left us to die." She verified the position, and slapped down the third to last beacon. "Two more! Move!"

Zarya chased behind her, still shielding, still destroying what the omnium could throw at them. The fire felt a little lighter. _I wonder what they did_ , she thought, noticing some of the local defence network now targeting away, towards the Russian front. _Whatever it was, it seems to have worked._

"You feel empathy for this... thing, despite that?" she managed, as they reached the next point.

"Yep," Sombra replied, second to last scanning run already underway. "I mean, maybe we can't save it, maybe it's just insane, maybe all it can do is make war. But..." She shook her head, and laughed a little. "Maybe it's Lena rubbing off on me. I can't give it up without trying. If this kills it, or if we have to destroy it ourselves, after all - at least we'll have tried to save it first. We won't just have... walked away."

She slapped the second to last beacon onto the dome. "Final beacon next. Move!"

Zarya touched her comms, and informed her superiors that they were on to the final stage. Sombra hit her own comms, while running, as well. "Oasis, you tracking?"

"Acknowledged," she heard Satya reply. "Signal clear and strong. Next beacon is the final?"

"Yep. Be ready to translocate as soon as it's active."

"We are standing by."

The two women hit the final location, and Sombra started her scanner, concentrating, ignoring the burst of chatter on her comms, for the moment, as it worked. _C'mon, scanner... be right... five more seconds, and we're home_ , she thought. _Four... three... two... one..._ "Got it!" She slammed down the final beacon, completing the ring, and the world dissolved in light...

...and in searing, blinding, all-consuming _pain_.

\-----

_[four minutes earlier]_

Dr. Ziegler stood in the mobile medical unit's primary shelter, her staff floating in the air vertically beside her, watching the action on the front lines on screens, monitoring health by remote, and listening to updates as Sombra counted down the remaining beacons.

Aleksandra's readings showed exertion, but all exactly in line with her expectations. Nervousness, too - more than in drills, but that was hardly surprising. The Weapons were in fine form, stepping up as Zarya asked for extra distraction; she heard Lena and Emily’s laughter over back-line comms, the interplay between the two of them and Danielle, and it made her smile, as it always did. _They're so **perfect** together_, she thought. _It's wonderful to..._

"Dr. Ziegler, I must ask you step away from your staff, and move back," she heard, her attention snapping to a... sergeant, yes. Behind him, three military police officers, spread behind him, pistols holstered, but hands ready. At almost in the same moment the chatter in her ears disappeared, as her comms went silent.

"What is this?" she asked coldly, her bronze eyes hard and flashing. "Are you completely out of your minds?"

"Sergeant," the lead medical officer asked as he ran over to them, "What - what are you doing? What is going on?"

"Stand down, Captain. This is an order directly from the Colonel. Dr. Ziegler - please step back. We are not going to harm you, but we are taking you into custody until the operation is complete." As he spoke, the three MPs stepped around the doctor, forming a semicircle, leaving an opening where she'd been told to step.

" _Why?_ " she demanded, her voice stonelike, cold, and hard, as if marble suddenly deigned to speak.

"I'm just following my orders, Doctor. Step back from your staff _immediately_. We do not wish to use force, but we will, if we must." He nodded, once, and the three MPs round her drew their sidearms.

"You want my staff?" she asked, sheer, naked contempt fighting with rage, chasing each other across her face. "You intend to _hold_ me?"

"Sergeant, I'm telling you," the medical Captain said, afraid. "You don't want do this. Let me call the Colonel."

"We have our orders," he said, as one MP reached for the wrist restraints attached to her belt. "Dr. Ziegler, we are taking all of your team into precautionary custody, temporarily, pending the final phase of this operation. No harm will come to you, or to your agents, but..."

"No," she agreed, now glowing, her wings spread, "It _won't_."

She gestured, just a flick of her hand, and three pistols and a set of wrist restraints dropped to the floor, along with the melted remnants of the MPs' fingers. They screamed, briefly, before their noses and mouths sealed themselves over, like that of their sergeant, and the four of them together fell to the ground, pawing at their smooth faces, uselessly, suffocating, no longer even remembering how to breathe.

"Be _still_ ," she hissed at the sergeant, as the chief medical officer stepped back, away from the Goddess of Life, shaking while one of the other doctors nearby fell to the ground and vomited. She turned as the noise drew her attention and said, "If you wish to save them, I respect that, and will not stop you. They will need assistance breathing, as they no longer remember how." She smiled, a little, hard, smile. "If you do not - then _run_."

She took her staff and flew outside, ignoring the scrambling of the medical team, and as she soared upwards, above the camouflage, above the jamming field, her comms returned to life.

"Moira, this is Angela - the Russians just attempted to take me prisoner. Repeat, the Russians just attempted to take me prisoner."

Far away, Moira swore and nodded to where Hana had been waiting. D.va activated her translocator and appeared an instant later just below Angela, barrier up and ready.

Much less far away, Moira's voice, angry, burst over comms. "Tracer, Widowmaker, Oilliphéist, Sombra, immediate recall. We have been betrayed."

"Already figured that out, auntie," Oilliphéist replied, from atop a stack of bodies representing most of the 33rd Motorized Company she'd been working with minutes before. "Tracer, Widowmaker, you both okay?"

"Be with you in a sec, luv," she heard Tracer reply over comms, but also over the song of pistol fire. "Didn't expect to be changin' sides mid-fight, but I've..." She heard a thump, and a grunt, from her wife. "Yep. All wrapped up."

"Pathetic," she heard Widowmaker say, along with the distinctive thump of a rifle stock into a skull, followed by six shots and a burst of machine gun fire. "I have _removed_ the Colonel who gave the capture order, after my," she chuckled, " _former_ escorts failed to locate me in time."

"Brilliant," Tracer replied. "You in the field office? Any sign of who gave him the orders? I need to make a _list_."

"En route."

Across the communications link, Angela heard the sound of canvas being torn, three shots, metal being bent, and then drawers being opened, and closed, quickly, one after the other.

"There is a small set of paperwork which appear to be orders, with more in the desk drawers... and a set of single-use code pads, with several sheets missing. I suspect..."

"Retreat to the war room, all of you," the doctor interjected. "We must..."

"Nngh!" she heard Lena snarl. "No! This wasn't right, we have to..."

"Yes! I agree, we do! But not..."

Moira's voice appeared, again. " _A leanbh_ , listen to me. An unaimed Weapon is a useless Weapon. We cannot act if we do not know who to strike. Do you understand?"

"...yes, but..."

"Widowmaker, bring all you can find with you. Is it compact enough to carry, or do you need help?"

"I believe the important material was in the security cabinet, which I have emptied. Regardless, I can carry it all, easily."

"Good. Perhaps we will recover something useful. Evacuate out, all of you, _immediately_."

"But _mum_..." Lena continued to insist, before Emily broke in, her voice coming both over her own comm, and, more quietly, Lena's. "Luv? No. I know how you feel, but it's me. And they're right."

"I..."

"C'mon, luv. Let's go plan, properly. Let's go build your list."

Another frustrated groan from Lena, before she acquiesced. "...fine. I guess... yeh. I... I guess you're right. Widowmaker?"

More shots from Widowmaker's rifle, and cries, in Russian, and the sound of ghosting, then a chain. "I do not want to risk a teleporter so close to the command group, or I would already be waiting. Go. I will join you in two minutes."

"Yeh. Right." A moment, a pause. "See you at home."

Angela turned towards the Omnium, intending to signal Sombra again, when it suddenly felt as if every hair on her body was standing up, and there was a terrible flash of light - as if a strike of lightning a half mile wide had slammed across and down from the sky. Heat buffeted her like a physical force, followed by a tremendous burst of air, as Angela struggled to keep aloft against the sudden shockwave.

A deafening thunderclap followed as the sound reached her, but all the Goddess of Life could hear was the howl of Sombra's comm link, screaming as it died.

\-----

“Get them out of there,” Moira ordered to the techs who had been standing by to translocate the dome, “ _now!_ ”

The holding facility had expected to receive the top levels of the omnium’s dome, and had been appropriately prepared to receive the dull alloy structure, with Fareeha and a set of her security forces stationed in case some of the autonomous defense units had come along for the ride. 

What arrived in a flash of energy as Moira rushed down from the control station was nothing like they had expected. 

The upper portions of the dome looked blackened and discolored. She could see the path that current had traveled in jagged streaks and forks along the surface, parts still glowing dully with heat, a flickering blue orb of energy protruding out from the far side.

“Stay back,” she ordered briskly, “but I want trauma ready to move with stretchers and crash carts!” 

Moira didn’t wait to see if her orders were being carried out. There was simply no time to lose. 

The roof of the dome was an easy enough target for her, and she let herself slip between one point in space and the other, sprinting towards the blue light as it faded, as soon as her feet became solid again.

"Hot!" she hissed, sprinting across the surface, moving, until she found Zarya, still lying where she had thrown herself over Sombra’s body, encapsulating them both in her shields.

_” **MOVE** ,”_ she commanded, not wasting time on pleasantries with the life of a patient - even such a _frustrating_ one as Olivia - at stake. 

To her credit, Zaryanova rolled herself away almost before she’d finished speaking, revealing Sombra, her chest heaving as she tried to breathe, her face contorted in pain. 

“Don’t try to talk,” Moira instructed as she knelt down, already trying to send nanosurgeons into Sombra’s system to investigate and stabilize her. Severe arrhythmia, hyperventilation, anomalous nervous system activity... little of which had an obvious physical insult to cause them, aside from indications of burns along the scalp and spine, and additional superficial burns at the hands.

“Oh,” Moira breathed as she realized what must have happened. “Oh. Of course. The implants.” _They must have done something to cause a truly massive EMP, and she took the brunt of it._

“This is O’Deorain,” she spoke briskly into her comm again. “Trauma teams, I see no active hostiles, move in. And I need Doctor Ngcobo with me on the dome, _immediately._ ”

“Can’t…” Sombra slurred, her voice a pained whisper. “Can’t _see…_ ”

“Shh.” Moira cradled her cheek as gently as she could. “Be still, now. We’ll fix you up, dear, I promise. Michael is coming... everything will be made right.”

_I promise,_ she thought, as she tried to project as much calm as she could, as Michael flew over the top of the dome, wings bright as he swept in beside her. _It will **all** be made right._

**Author's Note:**

> This concludes _The Arc of Ascension_. _The Arc of Conflict_ begins in two weeks' time.
> 
> * * *
> 
> This is the thirty-ninth and final instalment of _Of Gods and Monsters: The Arc of Ascension_. To follow the story as it continues in _The Arc of Conflict_ , [subscribe to the series via this link](https://archiveofourown.org/series/972024), rather than to the individual works.


End file.
